For company artist Judith Po, ballet is all about serving a higher purpose
In Cinderella (2023), Judith Po as the Fairy Godmother grants wishes with the wave of a magic wand. In real life, she has worked diligently to fulfill her own dream of becoming a professional ballerina.
By Jv Ramos
Photos by Giselle P. Kasilag
The beginning of Judith Po’s ballet journey is similar to those of many female dancers. It was an activity to do for fun and through the years, it turned out to be the one activity they couldn’t live without. “I was two and a half when I started. My mom, who always watched ballet growing up, brought me to my first ballet school. It’s something that she wanted to learn as a child, but classes were just so expensive in the UK. She hoped that I would love it too, and I did! What she and my father didn’t expect was how serious I’d get into it,” says Judith, a company artist of Ballet Manila who has made Manila her second home to be able to pursue her love for dance.
For Ballet Manila company artist Judith Po, ballet started as an activity to do for fun but turned out to be something she couldn’t live without.
Born in Cebu to a mother who was a missionary and a father who is an architect, Judith would attend up to four ballet classes every week in her hometown when she was younger. “You see, it wasn’t a summer thing for me. I needed to be in ballet all the time as a kid! At nine, I began those one-on-one training (sessions), so I could join competitions like the older dancers in my ballet school. I also did homeschool, so I could have more time for ballet in my teens.”
She says it was the beautiful costumes that drew her to ballet at first. “But later on, I realized that there was a different kind of feeling I’d feel when I would dance ballet. I like that I'm able to express myself through it. And I also like how you're always challenged by ballet and how you'll never be able to perfect it.”
A former student of Ballet Center Cebu, the oldest ballet school in her hometown, Judith shares there was a time when her mother used ballet to discipline her for not listening in school. “It was very effective! My mother knew so well that I’d do anything to be in ballet. Never again did I misbehave in school,” she laughingly recalls.
Judith (center) is the fortune teller who sees a grim fate for Violetta in Lisa Macuja Elizalde’s La Traviata, performed in Ballet Manila’s The Silver Gala in Baguio City in October 2023.
“I also went to Manila because of ballet. I was 14 back then and competed in the Philippine Dance Cup. It was an interesting experience for a young dancer,” expresses the ballerina. She notes that while she loved how competitions pushed her to go beyond her limits and made her conscious of her growth as a dancer, the scene really is not for everyone.
“If you’re mentally strong, then go for it. If not, then the student should wait for a few more years. When you're young, you're impressionable; you tend to compare. When you’re a kid, it’s like you’re just pleasing other people and dance isn’t about that!”
A year after that competition, Judith would find herself back in Manila as a trainee of Ballet Philippines. She stayed in a dorm with other BP dancers, a time she describes as both interesting as she learned to live away from home and inspiring as she got to meet ballerina Denise Parungao whose artistry and work ethic she admires.
Exploring different characters challenges Judith (leftmost), dancing as one of the slaves in Lisa Macuja Elizalde’s Le Corsaire last February.
Due to the worldwide pandemic, however, her training with BP was interrupted and the lockdowns and work limitations would bring her to the Dance Pull School of Performing Arts and then ACTS Manila. When restrictions were eventually eased, Judith decided it was time to look for something more professional and tried out for Ballet Manila.
“In just two weeks of taking class with BM, I was very impressed by the company. The classes were so organized, and I felt that my body was so much better training with Vaganova even in just a span of two weeks,” observes the ballerina. “I also enjoyed the work ethic around me. Everyone was putting effort in their classes. As a whole, I liked the company and wanted to be a part of it!”
Due to her talent and willingness to relearn her ballet training, Judith was accepted to the company in March 2023. “In my first four months here, I took classes in lower levels just to catch up or get used to the Vaganova style. You see, my training growing up is mixed, so to be able to adapt to the company style, I had to do the extra work. With my body, it was difficult to get the arms and the position of the head right; but in the end, it feels better on my body.”
In last December’s Cinderella, Judith also gets a chance to play one of the mean stepsisters (along with John Balagot as the stepmother).
In just a year, Judith has been part of BM’s Don Quixote, Ibong Adarna, Cinderella and Le Corsaire productions, and she finds every performance to have contributed to her growth as a dancer. “I love dancing as part of the corps in Don Quixote and Ibong Adarna! And I also love learning how to dance and perform characters. I’m thankful to have been able to dance as the fairy godmother and the stepsister in Cinderella. Learning how to perform a character is still new for me, and it was also something new to my family. I think they’re so used to seeing me dance pretty roles, so seeing me as the mean stepsister on stage was different for them.”
She adds, “I love challenges in ballet, especially the ones wherein you have to explore a character and make it your own, while still considering what your artistic director says, of course!” Fortunately for Judith, she’s got role models in the company, citing two principal ballerinas – Abigail Oliveiro, whose artistry allows her to portray just about any character, and Jasmine Pia Dames, whose strength and power as a dancer she admires.
Judith, seen here as a participant in the 2018 CCP Dance Competition, says one has to be mentally strong to join such high-pressure events.
“I actually started doing Ballet Sport Science this year,” says the company artist, referring to the extra workout program that many of the BM dancers engage in to build up strength and stamina. More than making herself strong, getting into program is about giving ballet – her passion and purpose – her all.
“I really believe that I was placed here on earth to dance – that ballet is my purpose. Ballet, for me, is not about pleasing others. It’s about a much higher purpose,” she underlines. “I am dancing for God. He gave me this gift, so I will keep on dancing and do what I can to keep on dancing.”
Aside from doing extra strengthening work, the Cebuano protects her passion and purpose by being conscious of her well-being. “It really isn’t healthy to keep it all in,” points out Judith.
Don Quixote was Judith’s first performance with Ballet Manila where she danced as a Dryad along with Jessica Pearl Dames (foreground) and Loraine Gaile Jarlega (left).
It’s also important for her to find the time for friends and hobbies that are outside ballet. She, for instance, relaxes by visiting thrift shops in Manila and putting together outfits that are inspired by her mom’s fashion. “It’s my own little way to be sustainable and help out Mother Earth!”
Going back to life with BM, Judith feels that though she’s only been part of the company for a year, she has already grown so much being under the tutelage of her artistic director, Lisa Macuja Elizalde. “I’d really like to have the same discipline and dedication that she has for her art!”
Judith wears one of her thrift-shop finds for her interview at the Ballet Manila Archives. Going to the ukay-ukay (secondhand clothes store) is a favorite leisure activity for this ballerina.
